Gluten Free food?

Udi's everything. Only bread worth eating. There are honestly SOO many gluten free foods out there today, but you'll have to spend a bit more money. Gluten-free granola, a sandwich with udi's bread, eggs, vegetables, chicken, yogurt, berries, lots of delicious salads, quinoa, corn tortillas - pretty much what my diet consists of.
Going out to eat is a bit tougher but still VERY doable - Mexican and Asian are both great options. Sushi and any rice-based dish.
You'll be fine girl!

I was diagnosed with celiac more than 3 years ago and have been eating gf since. Eating out IS a big deal and very tricky. Someone mentioned mexican and asian as "safe" options. I disagree somewhat. If you are gluten INTOLERANT you may be able to consume gluten in various degrees without having a reaction; however, if you have CELIAC DISEASE, you need to do everything possible to NOT consume gluten (although you will probably consume some at some point because it is virtually impossible to never get cross-contamination - but you MUST be aware and be careful because gluten doesn't just cause unpleasant symptoms that will eventually go away. It causes serious health risks for you). The issue with any restaurant is cross-contamination unless you are eating at a dedicated gf restaurant and there are very few of those in existence. Mexican food can be a good option, using only corn tortillas, but they must be ONLY corn. Most Mexican restaurants use flour tortillas so cross-contamination is always possible. With respect to Asian restaurants, I tend to avoid them especially, unless they have a gluten-free menu and exhibit good knowledge of gluten-free cooking. Asian cooking typically involves loads of soy sauce. Soy sauce is a huge no-no for gluten-free people unless it is wheat free tamari soy sauce. Very few restaurants use wheat free tamari due to the cost. Always ask. The same goes for any restaurant. I can't tell you how many servers have actually argued with me about what I can or cannot eat on their menus because they are very misinformed about gluten intolerance. One server insisted I could not have ranch dressing on my salad but advised me to order the loaded potato skins. I finally had to get kind of mad and tell her to bring me the dang salad dressing and if I got sick that would be my problem (I didn't.). Most salad dressings are gf (except Asian inspired ones) and the potato skins were deep fried in the same oil as their egg roll appetizers, chicken fingers, boneless buffalo wings, etc. The first thing you really need to do is educate yourself about the disease and do extensive research about where gluten hides in foods and food additives. There is a LOT of information to digest. See a nutritionist (your doctor should be able to refer you to one). Check out www.celiac.org and glutenfreeworks.com as well as Living Without magazine. There are lots of gf cook books out there, but so many are a waste of money. There are so many things you probably ate before that you can still make a gf version of that will taste great - meatballs, meatloaf, breaded chicken tenders, etc. Of the many gf cookbooks I have checked out from the library (best place to start bc you won't waste money), the only one I bought and have used quite a bit is Artisinal Gluten-Free Cooking by the Baranski's (and husband & wife). I bought it from Amazon for a great price. So many of them justs have weird, yucky stuff in them that no one would really every want to eat.

As for gf grocery store products:

bread: udi's id good, but I like Schar products better
pasta: tinkyada, Ancient Grains Quinoa, & Schar are my favorites
baking mixes: Pamela's (biscuits, cookies, cakes), gluten-free Bisquick (for pancakes); Gluten Free Pantry (triple choc brownies are fantastic)
pizza crust: udi's

Just beware that all pre-packaged gf baked goods, breads, pastas, etc. are high calorie as are any you might make from scratch. I rarely every buy any pre-made gf food anymore unless I need something quickly or am feeling lazy. And we are at the point where we rarely ever eat any type of grain-based food anyway but that's a whole other story. lol.

if you have any questions, or need any help, message me and I'll be happy to help! Good luck with your new lifestyle. It seems overwhelming at first and your family/friends may think you're just being difficult or trying to get attention or whatever, but celiac is serious and you will need to stand your ground.

i'd love to be friends with you! my little sister was diagnosed about 12 years ago and there was really not much worth eating on the market, so we made everything from scratch. talk about a learning curve! but i am grateful because it taught me so much and how to empathize with those with food allergies! and now i've been glutenfree myself for about 2 years. there really is so much available to us now, it's super easy to eat gluten-free. it's a hard transition, and it's ok to mourn the loss! but when you start healing your body, it will be SO worth it!!! you will feel like a new woman. friend me!

There is a facebook page called Gluten-Free Recipes 24/7 if you like cooking or baking. I made a pizza two nights ago. I replaced the flour in the dough with cauliflower I pulverized in a food processor. I've also used the recipe (also includes one egg, salt & pepper and almond flour if you want it to rise to be more like hand-tossed dough) to make garlic strips.

Also, I'm from Pickering, so I can likely help you out with food choices in the area!

I have had luck with glutenfreefamily.net . It's a GF Food box that they send each month. We have discovered all sorts of great GF snacks this way. I think they have a promotion going on right now, but not sure. :ohwell: